# The 15 Best Drum and Bass Tracks of All Time Breakbeat-driven dance music built on chopped Amen breaks at 160-180 BPM over sub-bass, born from UK hardcore and jungle in the early nineties and still the most rhythmically inventive music the country has produced. - **Origin:** United Kingdom, 1992 - **Tempo:** 160–180 BPM - **Also known as:** dnb, d&b, drum & bass, drum n bass, jungle - **Tracks:** 15 - **Updated:** 2026-08-28 - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/drum-and-bass/ ## The list ### 1. [Goldie](https://waxonia.com/artist/goldie/) — [Inner City Life](https://waxonia.com/track/goldie--inner-city-life/) *1994 · FFRR / Metalheadz* The record that proved jungle could carry grief. Diane Charlemagne's vocal floats over breaks chopped into timestretched dust, and the whole genre grew up in six minutes. Also on: [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [The Waxonia Desk — A Way In](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-a-way-in/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Goldie%20Inner%20City%20Life) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=i-P98B2skts) ### 2. [Shy FX & UK Apache](https://waxonia.com/artist/shy-fx-and-uk-apache/) — [Original Nuttah](https://waxonia.com/track/shy-fx-and-uk-apache--original-nuttah/) *1994 · SOUR* Jungle's national anthem. Ragga vocal, air-horn, and a breakdown that still empties the bar and fills the floor thirty years on. Nothing else sounds this much like a specific place and year. Also on: [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/), [Bass Weight](https://waxonia.com/theme/the-desk-bass-weight/), [The Waxonia Desk — 160](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-160/), [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Shy%20FX%20%26%20UK%20Apache%20Original%20Nuttah) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sxbekgL4w7w) ### 3. [Omni Trio](https://waxonia.com/artist/omni-trio/) — [Renegade Snares](https://waxonia.com/track/omni-trio--renegade-snares/) *1993 · Moving Shadow* The Foul Play remix is the blueprint: rolling Amen edits, a piano hook with real melancholy, and the discovery that breakbeat could be beautiful rather than only violent. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Omni%20Trio%20Renegade%20Snares) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzet6jYKQAU) ### 4. [LTJ Bukem](https://waxonia.com/artist/ltj-bukem/) — [Music](https://waxonia.com/track/ltj-bukem--music/) *1993 · Good Looking* Where atmospheric drum and bass begins. Bukem swapped darkness for Rhodes chords and open space, and invented an entire strand of the genre that is still being mined. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/LTJ%20Bukem%20Music) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=DNQDoiuGq58) ### 5. [Roni Size / Reprazent](https://waxonia.com/artist/roni-size-reprazent/) — [Brown Paper Bag](https://waxonia.com/track/roni-size-reprazent--brown-paper-bag/) *1997 · Talkin' Loud* The double bass line that carried drum and bass to the Mercury Prize and a general audience without softening a single edge of the drum programming. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Roni%20Size%20%2F%20Reprazent%20Brown%20Paper%20Bag) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cwI0gbGEyuI) ### 6. [Photek](https://waxonia.com/artist/photek/) — [Ni Ten Ichi Ryu](https://waxonia.com/track/photek--ni-ten-ichi-ryu/) *1997 · Science* Drum programming as swordsmanship. Photek treated the breakbeat as pure percussion sculpture, and no producer since has matched this level of rhythmic detail per bar. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Photek%20Ni%20Ten%20Ichi%20Ryu) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Photek%20Ni%20Ten%20Ichi%20Ryu) ### 7. [Alex Reece](https://waxonia.com/artist/alex-reece/) — [Pulp Fiction](https://waxonia.com/track/alex-reece--pulp-fiction/) *1995 · Metalheadz* The moment the two-step beat arrived and the genre stopped running. Half the tempo in feel, all of it in fact — a rhythmic trick that reshaped everything that followed. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Alex%20Reece%20Pulp%20Fiction) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZERy52yX6rg) ### 8. [Dillinja](https://waxonia.com/artist/dillinja/) — [The Angels Fell](https://waxonia.com/track/dillinja--the-angels-fell/) *1995 · Metalheadz* Dillinja's bass weight is the reference standard, and this is the track where the sub stops being an accompaniment and becomes the lead instrument. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Dillinja%20The%20Angels%20Fell) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5vS50pPKv-U) ### 9. [4hero](https://waxonia.com/artist/4hero/) — [Mr Kirk's Nightmare](https://waxonia.com/track/4hero--mr-kirks-nightmare/) *1990 · Reinforced* Predates the genre proper and contains its DNA anyway: a sampled police death notification over hardcore breaks. The dread that jungle inherited starts here. Also on: [Dancing to Bad News](https://waxonia.com/theme/dancing-to-bad-news/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/4hero%20Mr%20Kirk's%20Nightmare) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=4hero%20Mr%20Kirk's%20Nightmare) ### 10. [Adam F](https://waxonia.com/artist/adam-f/) — [Circles](https://waxonia.com/track/adam-f--circles/) *1995 · Section 5* Jazz-inflected, immaculately mixed, and the record most often used to prove to sceptics that drum and bass is composed music rather than assembled music. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Adam%20F%20Circles) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1dUi19BDzbg) ### 11. [Ed Rush & Optical](https://waxonia.com/artist/ed-rush-and-optical/) — [Bacteria](https://waxonia.com/track/ed-rush-and-optical--bacteria/) *1998 · Virus* Techstep at its most malevolent. Distorted, mechanical and airless — this is the sound that pushed the genre out of jazz clubs and into something genuinely frightening. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Ed%20Rush%20%26%20Optical%20Bacteria) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=2J0PiJBgLmg) ### 12. [High Contrast](https://waxonia.com/artist/high-contrast/) — [Return of Forever](https://waxonia.com/track/high-contrast--return-of-forever/) *2002 · Hospital* Liquid funk's finest hour. Soul samples and euphoric strings over rolling drums, made with enough craft to escape the sentimentality the style usually invites. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/High%20Contrast%20Return%20of%20Forever) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jlr0ie0vt4) ### 13. [Pendulum](https://waxonia.com/artist/pendulum/) — [Tarantula](https://waxonia.com/track/pendulum--tarantula/) *2005 · Breakbeat Kaos* The pivot to stadium drum and bass, for better and worse. Purists winced, but the production ambition here pulled a generation of new listeners into the genre. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Pendulum%20Tarantula) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=oCxcIROTabw) ### 14. [Sub Focus](https://waxonia.com/artist/sub-focus/) — [Timewarp](https://waxonia.com/track/sub-focus--timewarp/) *2009 · RAM* Sound design as songwriting. Every element is synthetic and every one of them hooks — the cleanest demonstration of what modern studio technique brought to the form. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Sub%20Focus%20Timewarp) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=d4iYglrXBtE) ### 15. [Noisia](https://waxonia.com/artist/noisia/) — [Machine Gun](https://waxonia.com/track/noisia--machine-gun/) *2010 · Division / mau5trap* Neurofunk's technical ceiling. The bass is processed past the point of recognition into something percussive and physical, and it still grooves. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Noisia%20Machine%20Gun) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=pBlu0Sbj6Ao) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.